Environmental restoration by using waste tires: An example of the Nan-Liao landfill in Taiwan

Waste tires are becoming one of the modt serious solid waste problems because the use of automobiles is increasing. If they are incinerated, some hazardous chemical compounds are emitted. When they are deposited outdoors, they become the habitats of mosquitoes and may cause environmental diseases such as breakbone fever. Much effort is devoted to waste tire treatment, but most of the available methods need pretreatment processes such as the separation of other materials or chipping into small parts. Energy, materials and man resources are always needed in these pretreatment processes. Furthermore, without any pretreatment process, whole waste tires can be used in civil structures. Hence, whole waste tires as a construction material in landfill restoration are investigated in this research. More than 20,000 waste tires were used in this study. First, waste tires were used to construct retaining walls in order to protect the site. Second, they were used for the pavement together with other materials to avoid soil erosion. Additionally, they were used to build the leachate drainage system. After restoration, the Nan-Liao landfill was planned as a recreation park. In this design, waste tires can be reused for recreational purposes, such as landmarks and other landscape features concerned with environmental protection. A playground for children in the form of a maze was also made out of waste tires in this study.